


Shrouded

by TytoNocturna



Category: FFXIV
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2021-02-16 10:09:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21506152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TytoNocturna/pseuds/TytoNocturna
Summary: A story about what happened to Aidan’s biological parents and how he came to be.https://twitter.com/aidankhontus
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should mention they are elezen.

It was quiet.

Not the quiet that makes your ears ring, birds still chirped and animals scurried about in the shroud. But for Aidan it was painfully silent, straining to hear his mother or father’s distinctive gait. 

He was tucked away in the underbrush covered in branches and leaves, this wasn’t the first time he had to do this. His parents told him a big bear was about and that he had to stay quiet while they scare it away and move camp. The bear always came and went, though Aidan had never seen it personally, and honestly never wanted to with the way his parents described it. Still he had been hiding in his heap of leaves since daybreak and now it was quite dark and cold.

His ear flicked as he heard something approach. It was large, four foot steps. The bear?! Aidan shut his eyes, if he stayed still and quiet it might not find him, does this mean his parents...? The steps started coming closer, but out of sync. One set quieter, disturbing almost nothing around it, dad. The second set a bit heavier and slighter faster, mom. He wanted to jump out and run to them, but he knew unless they came to get him, he mustn’t reveal himself. It was agonizingly slow as they picked their way too him, meandering around this way and that. “Its to confuse anything following us,” his dad told him once, still, the fact he knew they were safe made his anxiety subside and his stomach twist in pain as he felt incredibly hungry now. 

His mothers steps quickened as she hurried to his heap uncovering him. Aidan about launched himself into her arms were she hugged him tightly as his father joined in on their tiny reunion.

  
“Did you find the bear? Will he go away.”

His dad clenched his jaw and unclenched it, “For now. We scared him real good. We will be fine for now.”  
  
Aidan felt a wash of relief rush over him as he nuzzled closer into their warm embrace, all three of them holding each other tightly as if the other might suddenly disappear. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aidan’s experience with the Shroud and its ways.

He was still too young to join the hunt, his parents would trade off who would set off and who would watch Aidan. They hadn’t moved camp for a long time, Aidan could count maybe two snowy seasons, longer than any other time. The fear of the bear was still ever present on his mind, but it seems maybe it had left for good. His mother had set off to hunt today, which meant he got to scavenge for mushrooms with his dad. It was always slow going, but proved fun for Aidan, finding strange bugs and lizards and occasionally attempting to keep them.  
Today was not much different as he hustled over winding roots of a giant tree. The wind blew through the branches as Aidan’s stopped to listen. It seemed the shroud only grew louder the older he got, the trees and bushes constantly whispering around him, seemingly tugging him this way and that. He never really questioned it, he assumed that it was normal, to feel the forest pull him. He could feel the pull now as he looked on ahead Into the gaping maw of the deep woods, opposite of where his father was. The wind blew again as Aidan followed it, the draw almost irresistible as he went deeper into the shroud.

The call. The call, it was like a tiny voice, a scratching in his head. ‘ _This way, this way._ ’ He followed it without question, no longer able to hear his fathers movements as he chased the wind. ‘ _This way this way._ ’ He clambered over granite and rotting fallen tree trunks. ‘ _Here, come here. Come closer, closer._ ’ He got on his hands and knees, crawling into a massive fallen tree. Centipedes and spiders skittered across his hands and arms as he disturbed them, the pungent smell of wet soil and wood assailing his senses. ‘ _Closer, closer_.’  
The rotting wood gave out as Aidan fell through the trunk, falling into a heap on the forest floor as beetles and grubs rained on him, their many legs glinting in the filtered sunlight as they rocked on their backs. Ahead of him was what he would describe as another forest, only smaller and consisting entirely of mushroom. He ruffled his hair and shook himself off as he rushed forward, gathering as many as he could fit into his bag.

Aidan made his way back, beaming as he patted his full bag of mushrooms, they would be eating well tonight! He picked his way along the massive roots of the trees, until he heard his father call out “Aidan?” That was very strange, his family rarely called out,(if something hears us it might find us, his mother would reason) he sped up clambering up some rocks as his father came into view.

  
Sheet white, eyes wide, fear clear upon his face. Immediately Aidan felt guilty, “papa” he called back gently, his dad spun around facing him as he rushed to him, relief, then anger, then relief again flitting across his features. He could tell there were a lot of words his dad was not saying as he grabbed his shoulders then hugged him.  
  
“Don’t wander away like that. Please never do that.”  
  
Yelling wasn’t something they did, but Aidan could feel the weight in his words, the fear still tinged in his fathers voice. It was incredibly jarring, he had not seen or heard him like this before.

“Is it because of the bear?”  
  
His dad was quiet, the muscles in his cheeks sliding as his jaw clenched, by now Aidan knew it was a sign his dad holding back more of those words again. 

“There are things far more dangerous than bears in this forest.” He looked away, pointedly north as he said it.  
  
Aidan only saw more forest in that direction, but it seemed his dad was looking much farther.

**Author's Note:**

> First time really writing this sort of thing. There will be mistakes and errors I’m doing this from my phone


End file.
